FEATURE ARTICLE

Tonye David-West, Jr., Ph.D Political Scientist USA Friday, October 19, 2001

Kano riots! Nigerians, crying more than the bereaved!

've never seen such line of thinking amongst those who rampaged in Kano recently on account of the US bombing of Afghanistan. What has that got to do with the price of rice in China? That is what I want to know. The Kano Muslims and those in Zamfara have been taking to the streets in protest of the bombings and also in protest of Obasanjo's support of the US in this venture. While they have a democractic right to voice their opinion on this and any issue, they do not have the right to take matters into their hands and engage in wanton destructions of lives and properties and torching places of worship. Why is it that each time a Christian sneezes, a Muslim carries a matchet and starts carving bodies like suya? Why is it that a little disagreement prompts the prompt declaration of Jihad and the clarion call to all Muslims to come and defend the faith? Why do some of these Muslims have short fuses and are quick to violence? Do they not read the Koran and fellow its teaching? What can we attribute this to? Is it igorance? Is it poverty? Are there forces out there who are instigating these riots each time? What is it? We must uncover the root cause of all these riots if Nigeria is to stay together as a nation. How many religious riots are we going to witness in Nigeria? Is it a coincidence that all the religious riots have been in the north? Is it a coincidence? Why is that? Why has there not been a religious riot in the south--say in Calabar, in Owerri, in Port-Harcourt, in Warri? Why do they all have to be in kano and in Kaduna and in Jos? Does this fact alone tell us anything about those living in the north? Does it tell us anything about Nigerian Moslems? Does it tell us anything about a planned pogrom? Its seems to me that there is a hidden agenda amongst the Islamic zealots and fundamentalists like Sani Ahmed to rid the north of Christians and churches to facilitate their zeal of a purist Islamic north. How else can one explain the immediate rush to violence each time there is a little disagreement? How can one explain the discovery of N100 million worth of arms in the north because there are no more generals in the army of northern extraction and as such, they must pile those arms to defend Islam. Isn't this laughable? There is something wrong with this thinking. Their inability to divorce their religion from the affairs of the state is tasking the unity of the country. Its truly a shame. This year alone, we have had thousands of lives destroyed because of religious riots. Even a look at the history of religious violence in Nigeria all points to the north. It makes one wonder whether there is not a deliberate policy of extermination of southerners in the north. Who can argue against this in the face of overwhelming evidence? Lets take a look: JOS in 1945, 15 years before independence the Igbos were victims of massive attacks resulting in untold death. KANO in 1953, 7 years before independence, the Igbos were again victims of massive attacks resulting in untold deaths. In 1966, 20,000 Igbos murdered in the north. KANO in In 1980. The killings came in the form of religious riots by fanatics of the Maitasine sect and needless to say the Igbos counted their dead in the hundreds in this particular theater of violence. MAIDUGURI In 1982, Hundreds of Igbos killed. JIMETA, YOLA In 1984--Hundreds of Southerners killed. GOMBE in 1985--Hundreds of southerners killed. KADUNA & KAFANCHA In 1987--Hundreds of Igbos killed and their properties looted. BAUCHI, KATSINA & KANO in 1991--More southerners' lives wasted. ZANGO-KATAF in 1992: More of the same thing. FANTUA in 1993--Hundreds of Igbos killed. KANO in 1994---amidst the riots that killed many Igbos, an Igbo trader, Gideon Akaluka, was beheaded and his head paraded around Kano like a trophy. KADUNA in 2000: Sharia riots claimed more than 2000 lives, Christians and Moslems alike. In Illorin, three churches were burnt only this year by Musilim youths and the state government of Muhammed Lawal promised to investiagate it. Until today, we have not heard of the outcome of such investigations. In Kaduna, last year, several churches and mosques were burnt, we still do not know the people behind that riot. In Jos last month, Christians were hacking Moslems and Moslems were returning the favor in a free for all orgy. More than one thousand lost their lives in that theater. We do not know what ocassioned that mayhem. What is all this rubbish that is claiming the lives of Nigerians. Its seems to me that all that is needed is just a little excuse and the world would just watch Nigerians go into violent action. Even those in Afghanistan, the country that is being bombed daily by a superpower have not killed more than two hundred of their own people, they have not destroyed their houses and places of worship. Even the Pakistanis who are closer to the Afghans both geographically and culturally have not killed that much of their own people or burnt their places of worship. Its Nigerians, yes, Nigerians, who, according to National Georgraphy, are some five thousand plus milies away from Afghanistan that have taken matters into their hands and have killed more than two hundred of their own people and destroyed churches all in the name of protesting the US bombings. Does that make sense? Nigerians are crying more than the bereaved. Nigerians who have not found food to eat and have an abundance of problems of their own to last twenty life times are the ones taking this whole matter on their heads and killing themselves in the name of Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden. Shame! We can no longer blame these riots on unemployment and on hoodlums. We have hoodlums in the south and an abundance of unemployment as well, but there have not been riots in spite of the Moslems in the south who might be targets should their be. I say, there is more to this than meets the eye. The earlier we realize this and expose the hypocrites in our society, the better.